Conventionally, various methods of taping have been performed to alleviate muscle pain. For example, there is a method of surrounding, while supporting, an area where a muscle hurts so that the pain does not spread. As taping tape suited for this, as shown in FIG. 5, there is taping tape that is created by a base material capable of stretching and contracting vertically and horizontally and is formed as a result of a band of a certain width being cut into a predetermined length. An adhesive layer coated with an adhesive is disposed on one side of the base material, and a peel-away sheet is attached to the outside of the adhesive layer. Additionally, slits are disposed in the base material parallel to the longitudinal direction of the base material. The slits are disposed such that a plural number of slits of the same length are arranged in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the base material. Additionally, portions between each pair of slits become long and narrow strips. The slits stop at positions a predetermined length away from both longitudinal direction end portions of the base material, and both end portions of the base material are cut and left to become connecting portions that interconnect the plural strips.
Next, the method of using this taping tape will be described on the basis of FIG. 5. In this case, treatment of shoulder joint inflammation or shoulder pain is performed. Taping is administered to a patient in a natural posture where the patient is seated in a chair. First, the peel-away sheet attached to taping tape 1 is peeled away to expose the adhesive layer, and the taping tape 1 is adhered from the center of the trapezius muscle (the muscle running from the neck to the shoulder and the back) to the deltoid muscle. Next, strips 2 are spread apart outward in intervals about the size of a middle finger so as to surround the area of the shoulder.
However, this taping tape 1 has the problem that, when the peel-away sheet is peeled away and the taping tape is adhered with the adhesive surface facing the body, the plural strips 2 move away from each other and become tangled such that the taping tape 1 loses its shape, and adhesion to the body becomes difficult. Further, sometimes the strips 2 also become twisted such that the adhesive layers stick to each other and handling becomes complicated.
In order to solve this, there has been the therapeutic tape disclosed in Patent Document 1 below. This therapeutic tape is one where a connecting member is attached, such that it may be freely separated and so as to straddle plural slits, to the opposite side of the adhesive surface adhered to the body. The connecting member is a sheet member or a linear member.
Patent Document 1: JP-A-2002-238944